Show the protector of finance i y tales of Rc Re silius marvel guardian of bank treasure by WELDON J COBB THE INVALID LOAN t U A C W 0 im L 1 I 1 r fl AWAITED the opening of a door lit in H It estilus marvels private Q with a good deal of interest upon that action hinged something important por tant and I 1 knew it here was a place where small things counted a strange room a strange man luan its waster only the unusual happened acre resides besides that beyond the door of tills this the headquarters office of tile united rankers bankers protective association there were strange sounds they were lin wiling lulling and then deterrent a shrill cackle more eerie cerlo than human as of some borne hunted animal la in mortal terror a 14 voice calling distressfully into the bleak stormy night like that of 0 a victim from rom tho outer world being dragged oer oer uio tile threshold of a new and in otte one to the inner ciralo of u financial men given to good comradeship in excle etva club circles the mention of 0 the name of ile sillus marvel would bring a tender glow to heart and brain it would suggest a quaint tale told so BO evenly and entrancingly that the memory of the tranquil musical tones tenes would be like the echo ot of golden leads dropped into a crystal dish in one mood steeped in the achors of thalia vt ot calliope ot of euterpe of erato in the next following some sloping fancy down a fairy trail of thought sweet wind and refreshing as a field ot of daisies da leles one of the marvel reminiscent hours would mean a transformation of lazy rising rings ot of rich havana smoke into filmy lace pictures formed of cobwebs and ills ilia sayings were chaste us as a tiffany gom gem his mind a palace snaking making men forget for the nonce that ho be held the destinies of the great banks tits tie an egg shell in the palm of a giant lant lulling them with this necromancy of tone and professional expertness into tho the security ot at a vision louse I 1 had not spoken since I 1 entered the zooms rooms tor for I 1 saw that Re sillus Mil marvel was vas in ili one of ills his dark moods so well did I 1 know him that I 1 at once discerned that lie was struggling with some great case cage where the dead blank wall vail of no clue faced him grimly lie ile stood at the window looking out at the blurred of glowing rain lights a ba 1 b thorough firo just now remindful of tome some woeful bagdad out of that horld of shadows A a lone bird beat its afi ii against tho file window into its acerbi recesses marvel seemed boring ills way through obscure labyrinths seeking that which he ha must find fitly framing the picture was a wall covered with duplicates of famous forged checks portraits ot at the great counter fetters fei cabinet sections containing odd trophies of his career hero here was a stamped brick from assyria four thousand years old the he book of the dead one line ot of the lit hi of which had solved an in national mystery next was a rude sea seal from tho the behold congo wrested from the possession of a native chief who had bad flooded the country with phoney government scrip until Re sillus marvel had found him next nest was an ivory fan from turkestan Turk estan with a sanguinary streak that was the blood of a princess a fragment from a dynamited american steel pillar of hindla that could conid have bave told a racy tale of at a smooth contractor and a bulging scrap crap book clasped and locked like a bank code ledger containing his private person al notes on the tha now new generation of bank criminals modern in education as in an appreciation of the value at the gravers tool the drag the raised check manipulator the automobile as assets to crime against obsolete police methods always there was an air ot of com complete comply ty sull nees in this inner room at the disturbing sound without mar td turned distracted and therefore annoyed am noyed ilia eye fell upon lott his bis servitor who velvet shod noiselessly opened tho the door and closed it after him the man had a face like one of these you seo see on old roman medals an acquaintance with the moods and ways of lila ills master that enabled him to question intelligently and to respond through a look a hand movement a moro more expression of 0 tho lips lott was of three generations nho n ho had given their entire lives to the production of four famous statues ono one at tho the cemetery of genoa three at the beautiful pere le ie chaase at paris ile ho was a theorist as to the sense of smell holding that he be could coul d analyze a man by scenting lito lily favorite dish at him now in sharp silent challenge marvel looked I 1 know not what telepathic system bridged tile lie chasm of inquiry and re sponge but at once marvel straightened ened up us its if touched touche cl by a charp mental prod then lie glanced nt at nic ine and I 1 further know knew that lie imd had mode made swine now and important tits discovery lit in the paget case when I 1 hul hla first entered this room I 1 felt sure that marvel was preoccupied and that too over the case I 1 have hato mentioned in fact I 1 had come there on that business being a bank man and myself interested in its outcome to marvel the banks were something more than clients they were vere As aa children who went toppling down tho the line like tilted cards once started in panic it was for this reason reacon when tho the clearing house utter after two recent bank failures feared a gen aral run on deposits that marvel had exerted all his abilities to smother it a scandal in the case of the Go guardian ardlan trust savings bank of which young tyler paget was president that off official lelal was tho the son eon of ono one of the oldest financiers in tho the city fatherly influence had given the junior a fine start in fact business had been so BO active that double the original capital was soon invested it was trusting a great deal of at responsibility to a very young and inexperienced man but paget jr was of excellent personal character acter and habits and energetic and ambitious however the minute a new bank is started there Is an immediate invasion on the part of crooks schemers ech emers bikers pi kers and delin delinquents quenta who have been flagged at the older institutions young paget pretty shrewdly evaded most of the pitfalls but one day king gundorf walked I 1 into to the bank it was not as gundorf that he did this but its as degart rutledge Rut lodge lie ilo announced that he be was about to buy out the old and established acme matala company a concern so BO well known to paget that lie he was at once interested gundorf stated that ho he was paying for the business half cash now held in escrow as aa a receipt shoved allowed ile he wished tho the bank to loan can him for which he be as the new president of tho the acme would put up the entire stocks of th that at company the bank had no right to make a i loan in ono one volume so BO largely tn in excess of proportional capital restrictions but gundorf claimed it would bo be tor for only ten days and offered a hand some bonau and the deal was in node made in five days the explosion can camo to to his dismay paget learned that tho the pretended rutledge in giving the collateral note for had no authority to sign at that time as president ot of the acme this fact relieved tho the carpo corporation po ration ot of all liability and the tee baui held a worthless piece ot of paper and a non v valid stock transfer receipt the next discovery was that gundorf had disappeared with the received front from tho bank and that the in escrow comprised counterfeit notes when the escrow funds were examined this was made manifest and at t this h to point Re sIllus marvel was called in lie ile recognized the culprit from his earmarks at once gundert had been sentenced to a long torm teim of imprisonment in brazil a year back ile he was supposed to bo be out of tile the way tor for a apell at least but bill about six months since there had bad appeared on the market a fifty dollar counterfeit note which to marvels experienced eyes was the product of gundorff chill defore before any ot of them had bad been recognized as dangerous by the banks marvel had detected tho the flaws in tho the issue there were two material variations from the good notes As AB soon lis as ho he sent out this possibility of worldwide world wide identification all fifty dollar notes were of course scanned closely clo eely cely to run down tho the counterfeits was marvels first purpose to help out tho the guardian trust and sayings savings an added motive the acme people had lost nothing as they simply invalidated tiro tile stock contract paget however howo vor was out ilia hla father was now trying to raise this amount so BO the bank could continue or it if necessary go out of business honorably the banks within tile tho clearing house were 6 trying to smother publicity for foar fear of a general run paget had bad been given thirty days by the bank examiners to clear the situation lie ile had bad technically violated the banking laws and but tor for the pending Bt atral rained ned financial situation his bank would have been closed and binic elf prosecuted the guardian trust and savings cleared through our bank paget wati waa a personal friend I 1 held fifty shares of 0 the stock that Is how I 1 was waa interested essid for two weeks marvel had been on the track of gundorf ila ho had ilia his own ideas as to how far catching him would relieve conditions you aro interested lie ho said as I 1 airoso to leavo leave the room fearing I 1 might bo in tho the way stay where you jou tire ore I 1 have had a man watching the house bouse where gundorf lived until he put over this last deal of his bis dut vacant I 1 understand you to say vacant true but the rent paid up for six months and telephone gas and electricity ordered kept ready for use and paid for ahead I 1 fancy my man has haa learned something at last and I 1 also imagine ho he Is a bringing somebody with him As tho the door opened on noiseless hinges lott ushered into tho the room two men the one who hold held the other a prisoner was a powerful unkempt fel low who resembled a tramp who might have bavo been sleeping lit in a dog kennel over night I 1 later found out that this was literally true but for a week instead of a day ills companion cringing terror faced wildly distraught was a little lithe wiry man brown as a berry with small email beady eyes ills his garli garb was halt half foreign his actions those of a menial ila ho was in a frantic excess of terror and trembled as marvel axed fixed those grave boring eyes upon him 1 I 1 made the catch on suspicion spoke his captor ile he was waa ringing nt at tho the door bell of the place we ve know when I 1 showed up hes an Ih innocent and understand a word of english hold field out this card and this picture and tho the speaker gave cavo both to marvel who glanced at them and then passed them to mo me tho the card boro bore the address of at the house under surveillance tho photograph was waa a duplicate 0 of ono one lie ho had shown me more than once king gundorf Oun dorf marvel nodded to hla his assistant who departed like a man thoroughly train traia ed cd lu in his profession the foreigner stood now nervously pressing hla his unsteady hands together the cold sweat gathering on ilia his face ace once ho he held out his hand band piteously tor for the return of the articles taken from him marvel never removed his bis eyes from him I 1 saw that he was wait studying him critically lie ile spoke a word to lott lot I 1 did not hear As aa tor for himself ho he went over to a bookcase lott went through the clothing of the man with remarkable rapidity all AD lit he came across as aa I 1 saw waa a purse containing EL small sum of money marvel hastily consulted halt half a dozen bouke books and turned and consulted the man Compre Com riez yang mot mol he bo asked hut but he be need not have spoken for all the words conveyed to his strange guest bist du the foreigner looked puzzled then he jabbered jabberer Jabb ered out a hideous jargon lu in some obscure tongue quien ea as custod no the man spoke neither french german nor spanish in some oriental patola patois marvel madu mado a now new try followed by one in a south african dialect it was ot of no avail atall whoever the man whatever his purpose in visiting the gundorf house ho he could not be intelligently approached on tho the subject I 1 saw marvel grappling with this new baffling problem in a mighty mental throe then he bo gave lott an unspoken instruction and tho the latter left the room marvel backed to his hia desk I 1 saw him place his hands behind him seize a broad topped bottle remove demova the stopper insert one linger finger in it and como come again to the stranger As aa if carelessly ho he touched him on lill III ui 1 f 11 rs 0 4 y d rit 41 st b 4 I 1 r C HE WAS INA IN A FRANTIC excess OF TERROR AND TP TREMBLING AS MARVEL FIXED THOSE GRAVE BORING eyed UPON hin HIM the back with that finger drew draw him about opened the door and waved him from the room the man sped away at the injunction as though his feet were winged marvel pointed to my hat and overcoat ile he briskly arrayed himself tor for the street when wo we reached it no one was la in sight eight As we turned tho the corner 1 saw lott lot on oa one bide of tile the thoroughfare on the other racing along as ar though relieved from a vivid spell op of restraint was a man la in the center of choso whoso back glowed a dull splotch of 0 phosphorus an infallible guide tit at a distance and explaining the manipulation ot of the bottle from tho the desk telco wo we lost sight of lott whose duty it was to keep sight ot of tile the foreigner or on these occasions my companion was not at alt all perturbed but ills hla roving eyes were all tho the moro more watchful I 1 followed their direction more than once to observe soine white marks on pavement or build building fiig made I 1 know knew afterwards by a chalk crayon inserted in the end of the cano which lott carried I 1 do not think lott saoko a halt half dozen words vorda to tits hla master as aa we finally came up with him but these the expression of his face and some quick signs seemed to convoy convey to marvol maricl a world of intelligence lott stepped back bach marvel moved moed me aside with a pres pressure Eure of uta his palm end and pushed open the street door of one of those small email upper story hotels with which the city abounds the inference was that lott had traced tits his man to this place I 1 soon know this tor for D certainty I 1 was waa not at all sure that some como sound signal remote and vague was not conveyed to my companion that or something telepathic or mystic at all events from an attitude of prim soldier like patience lott suddenly started like a manikin unhinged with a movement extremely Mt remely courteous and apolo betle as it if depro deprecating cating that he bo must ba in advance he bo proceeded up uio stairs and I 1 followed him not for or tin an instant did ho he filter falter or deviate front from a straight course the hallway WAS lighted by lamps but ills hla eyes byes were cast down then tit the second landing I 1 noticed a tiny green thread of at raw silk alk close to tile protecting baseboards alongside tho the stair blair treads and guessed who v ho had it at the end of the third hotl with unerring precision arrived at a door tho the transom of at which showed light bo be yond almost but not quite noiselessly his long shapely fingers groped across a panel again ho he must have caught some como sound signal in response entirely unnoticed by myself lie ho turned tho the knob of at tho the door and wo we entered tho the room once moro more the abo foreigner was in cyl evidence ile he sat or rather lay crouched back in a ragged arm chair akin to tile rest of the poor furniture of that poor room |